Physicians Group Warns “Flesh-Eating Bacteria” puts Circumcised Boys at Risk

Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) issued a special statement on its website today regarding the threat to newborn boys with circumcision wounds from the new epidemic of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).

(PRWEB) February 18, 2006 -- Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) issued a special statement on its website today regarding the threat to newborn boys with circumcision wounds from the new epidemic of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).

CA-MRSA is a new, more virulent, and more deadly variant of an earlier strain. MRSA, once confined to hospitals, now has entered the community, where many persons are carriers. Some call CA-MRSA a “flesh-eating bacteria” because it emits a tissue-destroying toxin.

George C. Denniston, MD, MPH, the president of DOC said, “This emerging disease poses an immediate threat to anyone with an open wound.” He went on, “We urge parents to avoid having their son circumcised, an elective medically-unnecessary non-therapeutic operation, and call on public health officers to suspend the practice of non-therapeutic circumcision for the duration of this epidemic.”

Denniston, an epidemiologist and former employee of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), also criticized the CDC saying, “The CDC has been concentrating on such potential threats to public health as avian influenza while MRSA is already here. They should have taken action on this sooner.”

There have been numerous outbreaks of MRSA infection in newborn nurseries. DOC’s research shows hospital healthcare workers and parents who are carriers of MRSA may infect the open circumcision wound.

The mortality rate from MRSA infection is high. MRSA is resistant to most common antibiotics. Treatment of suspected MRSA should be immediate and aggressive. In many cases the MRSA victim should be hospitalized and treated with intravenous antibiotics.

The special statement may be viewed at:

http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/DOC/mrsa.html

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